BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Kathy Farmer tried cutting costs by cutting channels from her Time Warner Cable package, but when she took a close look at her new leaner bill, she was shocked to find new charges she had never seen before.

“I had all these channels that went up into the hundreds. I never watched any of them,” said the South Buffalo grandmother, so she downsized her channel lineup to about 60, and canceled her digital home phone’s free long distance.

All told, Farmer just about cut her bill in half, then she took a second look at her cable bills, and found a new charge, “Long Distance Intrastate” that was showing up each month, itemized in the section for credits and one-time charges, “and I couldn’t find out what the charges were, or what the credit was.”

Eventually, after many phone calls to Time Warner Cable–now Charter Communications–Kathy was told she gets charged for every phone call she makes outside of her local “824” exchange–the first three digits in her phone number—no matter where she calls.

The grandmom was incensed, “If I call the girl across the street, or my neighbor, my daughter, my granddaughters across the street, I pay a charge for every phone call because their exchange is not the same as mine.”

Kathy figures she has paid about $300 for the new intrastate charges, which she said were not on her previous bills when she had the most lucrative account with Time Warner Cable, “I downsized and I don’t have long distance,” which nearly defeats the purpose of downsizing in the first place.

Farmer is also wondering what is the point of having cable if she can get a better deal for TV and phone service somewhere else? After all, she says, who pays for local calls anymore?

“I might as well have a payphone in my house because unless your exchange is 824, I pay for it.”

A Charter Communications representative contacted Farmer, and as of this week, she is no longer being charged for local phone calls. If Kathy follows up, she might get credit for her previous local calls.